The Interview
The location confirmed in the acceptance message was a broadcasting station's filming set in Incheon.
"I'll show you to the waiting room."
Following the staff member's guidance, he stepped inside to find roughly a dozen people already seated in chairs. Fortunately, he had come in through the back door, so he was spared the sharp stares of the others.
What the people in the chairs were watching was a large screen mounted on the wall. Against a black background, a Japanese flag hung beside the interviewee.
…Japanese player interviews.
In the first episode he had watched before his regression, Japan had finalized its participant list ahead of Korea. It seemed the same was happening this time around.
"Korea being the strongest in Asia is a thing of the past. Meanwhile, plenty of Japanese players are playing in Europe, right?"
The Japanese player on screen spoke with a rather arrogant expression. At that, some of the waiting athletes scowled or clenched their fists, visibly holding back their anger as they remembered they were still being filmed.
Ian deliberately lifted the corner of his mouth into a thin, bitter smile.
The screen went dark, and a woman with her hair tied back entered through the front door.
"We'll start the interviews now. When your name is called, please come out. Kim Seunghyeon, you're up."
The female staff member left with the called participant, and the rest of them were left with free time. Someone dragged a chair over beside Ian, who had been quietly looking at his phone.
"Hi?"
"…Who are you?"
"You don't know me? Well… I didn't play in the match, so."
"…Are you a Namseo High player?"
"That's right. My name's Baek Namgi. Position is right back."
Wearing a Namseo High jersey, he turned to show off the number 34 and the name printed across his back.
"I didn't get to play against Baekhwa High, but… we're all meeting here, huh?"
"Ah… yeah."
No matter how hard he thought, Ian could not place Namseo High's right back from the broadcast.
…Was he a substitute?
That seemed most likely. If he had been the backup right back for a team like Namseo High, he was probably a substitute here as well.
"Anyway… you saw that, right? That Japanese bastard…"
"…"
While Baek Namgi grumbled, seething with anger, Ian carefully turned over the face of the player who had been on the screen.
"Um… do you know what that guy's name was?"
"That Japanese player? I think it was Yamamoto Shinji. I saw his self-introduction."
Yamamoto Shinji.
In the future, he would join Liverpool the way his senior Takumi Minamino had. He had lost out in the competition for a starting spot and rarely featured, mostly coming on as a substitute—but even so, he had put in average-level performances.
That did not mean he was a poor footballer. Simply joining the Premier League—and a club as romantic as Liverpool, no less—was impressive in itself. Still young and yet to make his professional debut, he would currently dominate players of the same age group by a wide margin.
"Doesn't it piss you off? Seriously…"
…The production team's intention had worked again this time. They deliberately showed these kinds of provocative remarks to stoke the competitive fire of still-hot-blooded teenage boys. Of course, it was also a commercial ploy that leveraged the Korea–Japan rivalry—a relationship in which even rock-paper-scissors could not be lost—to make money. Still, that competitive spirit was good for the kids.
"Next… Seong Ian. Please come."
"Oh… good luck."
Ian gave Baek Namgi a rough nod and followed the staff member out for his interview. The staff opened a door to a room.
A single chair sat alone in front of a black wall, with a Taegeukgi hanging behind it. Once he sat down, a camera and lights faced him head-on, and about ten staff members watched from the other side.
Before his regression, the only interviews he had ever done were press conferences or the occasional pitch-side interview after being named MVP… and now he was going to be on a broadcast.
Something different. Nice.
"Just relax and look at the camera for the interview."
"Okay."
Ian took the interview as casually as the staff had suggested. The questions were all easy ones—a simple self-introduction, why he had started playing football, and other relatively straightforward prompts.
"One last question before we wrap up. Did you… see that Japanese player's interview just now?"
"Yes."
"Would you like to leave a video message for him?"
"Hmm…"
They were probably asking every kid the same question and would use whichever answer came out best. The people who made this program liked stimulating content that would draw a large audience.
In that case…
"…He's right."
"Huh?"
"That Korea is no longer the strongest in Asia. After Cha Bum-kun, Park Ji-sung, and Son Heung-min, has there been a player who carried the title of world-class?"
Around the same period as Son Heung-min, there had been Kim Min-jae and Lee Kang-in, and Lee Hyun-joo, Jeong Woo-yeong, and Oh Hyeon-gyu had also carried the future of Korean football. They were good players, of course. Some of them still had not retired from the national team. Even so, calling Korea the strongest in Asia was a stretch.
Japan had poured massive support into youth development for a long time, and those investments were now bearing fruit in the form of numerous A-class players. Countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia had also produced plenty of star players. And Korea, too—once kids like Choi Seungwon, currently still in high school, grew up—could become an Asian powerhouse again.
The Korea Football Association itself… has a lot of issues, to begin with.
Thirteen years ago… 2023, was it? Every football fan had been furious when the association pardoned people involved in match-fixing. Ian had only been three or four at the time and had not really understood. The reason had something to do with advancing to the Round of 16 at an away World Cup, and something else besides—he was not particularly interested. In this life, he was going to live one that had nothing to do with the Korea Football Association anyway.
When the production staff said nothing, he continued on his own.
"Japan is a country with many A-class players. Korea, on the other hand, is a country where S-class players occasionally emerge. And I guarantee that through this program, an S-class player will emerge."
"…Alright. That concludes the interview. You can leave. We'll contact you separately about the next shoot."
"Yes. Thank you."
Ian left the interview room and headed straight home without returning to the waiting room. He planned to rest for a bit at home, then meet the uncles he had encountered before at the futsal court for another round of two-on-one.
"…Quite a bold kid."
"Indeed… Well. We can fix anything risky in editing."
After every participant's interview was finished, the staff sat together and talked. Thirty participants had been interviewed that day. From among them, they planned to select eleven starters and nine substitutes—twenty in total.
Nine who had left no particular impression had already been decided against for the show, but the production team was still agonizing. Whether to pick Seong Ian, who had given a somewhat risky interview, or a player without star quality who was unlikely to cause any controversy.
"Honestly, Seong Ian… his face alone has star quality…"
"Right. Even if he can't play football and just sits on the bench, he'd probably be popular."
"Still… if he goes off the rails too much in later interviews…"
While they were deliberating, a man and a woman walked into the production meeting room.
"Hello~"
"Hello."
Both of them were the MCs who would host the program. The male MC was Go Yunseong—he had played as an athlete through high school, then after an injury had walked the path of a coach, only to be scouted by an agency and grow into an actor. The female MC was Eunhye—the eldest sister of a girl idol group, who had followed football closely from a young age under her father's influence.
The reason the production team had chosen these two out of so many candidates was simple: entertainment value. Aside from Seong Ian, there was no one particularly handsome among the participants. Handsome and pretty people needed to appear if the audience was going to watch the program in large numbers.
"Is the roster finalized?"
"No… not yet."
Sitting across the table, the two of them glanced at the screen the production staff were watching.
"Wow… he's handsome."
"Yeah… and he speaks well too."
Go Yunseong nodded as he watched Seong Ian's interview, then opened his mouth once it ended.
"PD-nim, do you have a report on that kid?"
"Yes. Here."
The production team had reports that quantified the data of every player who had passed the first document screening. A staff member handed the report to Yunseong, and Eunhye began looking over it with him.
"Let's see… a second-line multi-resource who can also play as a striker? A complete all-round multi-resource…"
"Not only that… four matches, thirteen goals and four assists. Truly incredible."
Eunhye swept her brown hair back. She was not being sarcastic—she was genuinely praising him.
"I think we should pick this kid. Looking at it, he even has recent championship experience."
"Still… if he says something wrong and gets into controversy…"
"Then just edit it out. Let's bring him in right away."
"Ugh… haah…"
The overall director groaned, deep in thought. He watched Yunseong and Eunhye looking at him, then finally let out a long sigh and nodded.
"Haah… But Seong Ian's education will be managed by Yunseong-ssi and Eunhye-ssi, okay?"
"Yes."
Yunseong and Eunhye, who had wanted Seong Ian on the show, nodded once the overall director gave his permission.
"Next is which team goes to which league… Ah. Didn't they say Seong Ian's mother is Spanish?"
"That's right?"
"Then… assigning it like this would be best, right?"
A whiteboard divided into the Korea team and the Japan team. Written on it was the following:
Korea: Premier League, La Liga, Eredivisie
Japan: Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1
Just like that.